The courageous LGBT people of Love and Solidarity movement: Diana Karapetyan

Diana Karapetyan’s girlfriend did not want her to participate in the protests, she had no expectation of a change and did not want the authority to change and she thought that her partner spent her energy in vain. But it was important for Diana that people believed in their strength. “If someone told me nothing would change, I would say: ”okay, even if it does not change, I want to see my people doing something, if nothing changes this time, it will do the next time.”

Diana has joined the movement since the closure of the French square. She blocked Abovyan-Moskovyan, Pushkin-Mashtots, Tumanyan-Abovyan crossroads, stood in front of the armored vehicle in Vazgen Sargsyan street, preventing it from wading. “I didn’t expect too many people to block. We started gathering people with five to six guys and blocking. Or I went and stood in one place where there were few people, and I wrote posts for people to come and join.”

“I wrote posts for people to come and join.”

She stood in front of the armored vehicle

Closing the street was not the only reason Diana had conflicts for, she had problems with her appearance too. The 21-year-old activist remembers that when she was insulted by police officers or drivers for her appearance, strangers-protesters defended her. For example: “A woman came up and said: open, I must go to the square to Nikol, and we told her: it is closed for you, as it is for the others. She started shouting and insulting all people, and then I approached, and said: Lady, instead of talking so much, you would go on foot. She told me, “Come on, you slut, go and look at yourself in the mirror.” I did not say anything, and another woman in front of me began to defend me saying: you don’t have any right to speak on her appearance. “

Or “A 17-year-old boy was lost. His mother asked the policeman how to find her son because no police station she had applied had any information. That police officer turned back and said: ”If you were a good parent, your son would not get lost. I said: “He is lost because of the policemen, as they pick and take even the juvenile without saying a word. He turned back furiously and said, “Go and take off the thing on your eyebrow, then we’ll talk.” And an unknown grandpa said: «It’s not your business what hangs on her brow, it’s not your liability. The policeman left. “

The policeman said: “Take the thing on your eyebrow off, then we’ll talk.”

And while blocking Mashtots-Pushkin crossroad, the policeman asked Diana: ”Are you a girl or a boy?” There was an unknown woman next to me, she said: “It is not your business if she is a girl or a boy.’’ That police officer said, for knowing how to apply. The woman said: ”You should not be interested in this, because you must call her a respectful citizen.”

She also says that people who blocked the street with LGBT people always were consentaneous and never had any problems, even when homosexual boys acted freely. “The Red Berets came, and one of the guys shouted, “My dears, we’ll wait for you.” There were unknown boys with us, they just smiled and laughed.’’ Also, a boy had started examining the community carefully and asked Diana whether they were mixed, the boys were like girls, the girls were like boys. “I say: as you can see. He says, ”but it’s cool, besides I like independent girls”. He said nothing excessive about the boys. “

Diana celebrates Serzh Sargsyan’s resignation with friends

Diana states that if the matter of her sexual orientation didn’t exist, she would also go out to struggle, but being a person from a downtrodden group motivated her more. “The LGBT community is tired of living in that system. There are targeted groups that are overwhelmed, but people don’t say that it’s good suppressing them, but they say it’s good suppressing LGBT people. When you have no support from aside, and you have always tried to defend your rights yourself, you realize that if you don’t change anything now, you are gonna remain in the same stagnant system. “

It was Diana’s girlfriend’s birthday in April, who wanted them to spend the whole day together, but Diana wanted to combine the birthday and the protests, thats why they quarrelled. And during one of the broils, a couple of strangers approached them in the street and said: “Hey man, it’s revolution, love each other, don’t fight.”